Abstract:

Attaining players has long been a focus of mobile gaming research, however, post-adoption behavior studies are still in their infancy. While considerable research has reached consensus on the role of enjoyment in prompting game playing, little light has been shed on the change in the impact of perceived enjoyment on behavioral intentions during different stages of game playing. Moreover, few studies have identified the antecedents of enjoyment throughout different stages. By addressing the limitations of prior research, this study attempts to identify the antecedents of perceived enjoyment and its impact on behavioral intentions toward mobile gaming in multiple time points by a longitudinal design.

This study proposed game design, design aesthetics, music and sound, perceived ease of use, variety, novelty, perceived interactivity, perceived challenge, perceived control, curiosity, and sociability as predictors of perceived enjoyment. Empirical data was collected from a total of 44 participants through a longitudinal experiment. The experiment was conducted over a two-week period, consisting of five questionnaires. All the responses were used for data analysis. PLS-SEM was utilized as the data analysis method. In addition, responses to open-ended questions were transcribed for analysis.

The findings of this study identified determinants of perceived enjoyment at various points in time: design aesthetics and curiosity at the pre-adoption stage; design aesthetics, curiosity, and perceived interactivity at the adoption stage; perceived interactivity, perceived challenge, and sociability at the post-adoption stage. Moreover, the role of perceived enjoyment toward behavioral intentions was confirmed by explaining 40.5% of variance in adoption intention, 45.1% of variance in continuance intention at the adoption stage, and 18.4% of variance in continuance intention at the post-adoption stage. This study contributes to mobile gaming research by shedding light on the antecedents and the impact of perceived enjoyment. Practically it provides implications for mobile game developers in creating enjoyable gaming experiences.